Several university presidents in British Columbia are conducting a quiet campaign to convince the government to remove the inflationary cap on tuition fee increases for students in professional programs.

Deregulating tuition fees for these programs would be a disaster for access to professional careers in BC. The last time the Campbell government deregulated tuition fees (2002–2005), fees doubled.

When tuition fees were deregulated for professional programs in Ontario, some students saw their tuition fees increase by over 400%. As a result, the proportion of students enrolling in professional programs from low-income families plummeted from 17.3% to 7.7%.

January 22, 2010
Hon. Dr. Moira Stilwell
Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development
PO Box 9059
Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2

Dear Minister Stilwell,

It has come to our attention that a handful of senior university administrators are actively lobbying your office to lift the tuition fee cap on professional programs. I am writing to express our opposition to such a move, and why it would not be in the best interests of British Columbians.

Today’s tuition fee levels are already undermining equality of access to BC’s universities and colleges. As fees have climbed to record highs, BC’s families are now saddled with the highest student debt outside of the Maritime provinces.

Two Canadian studies that examined access specifically to programs with deregulated fees make it clear that it is not a policy worth pursuing in British Columbia.

The first study, The Impact of Tuition Fees on University Access by Statistics Canada, studied enrollment rates in professional programs during the dramatic fee increases during the 1990s. The result for Ontario program enrollment, where fees increased by 500% in some fields, is most telling. Prior to the deregulation of fees in Ontario, those from homes in which a parent had a professional or graduate degree were only slightly more likely to enroll than those from a home with a parent with just a bachelor’s degree. After the deregulation of fees, those from a family with a professional or graduate credential were more than four times more likely to enroll.

The second study was conducted at the University of Western Ontario after the deregulation of tuition fees at its medical school. It found that the proportion of students enrolling from low-income families plummeted from 17.3% to 7.7% after fees rose from $4,000 per year to more than $10,000. Despite a provincial policy that mandated 30% of revenue generated from fee increases go to student financial aid, low-income enrollment fell more than 50% in four years.

Beyond disadvantaging modest-income families, forcing students and their families to pay higher user fees undermines the public nature of universities and colleges. Far from being a product of the current government, BC’s system of public post-secondary education is the result of several generations of public investment. The inter-generational investment of British Columbians was premised on the idea that BC’s universities and colleges would be accessible to all based on merit and labour force needs. Record high tuition fees today are a betrayal of what generations of British Columbians have built.

British Columbians' support for public post-secondary education has not waned in recent years. All polling on the issue of access to BC’s post-secondary education system shows a high level of support for more affordable universities and colleges. Harris-Decima polling conducted in November of 2009 found that only 3% of British Columbians would like to see tuition fees raised. It is clear that there is negligible support for removing the cap on tuition fees for professional programs. Such a decision would be wildly out of step with the views of British Columbians.

There is broad support amongst students and the rest of the public for increasing pubic funding to post-secondary education so that all families, regardless of income, are able to access a high-quality post-secondary education in this province. Mustel Group polling conducted in January of this year found that 85% of British Columbians support additional public funding for universities and colleges.

University presidents are concerned with generating as much revenue as possible for their institutions, often regardless of the social impacts. However, your government is responsible for representing the people of British Columbia, who clearly and consistently support additional public funding, not additional tuition fee increases, to pay for post-secondary education. Moreover, your Party made a written commitment to British Columbians in its 2009 platform for re-election to "continue to limit tuition [fee] increases to the rate of inflation".

Should you wish, representatives of the Canadian Federation of Students-British Columbia would welcome a meeting with you to discuss this matter further with you. In the meantime, our members would appreciate clarification on whether you are considering any changes to the current tuition fee cap policy. We would appreciate a response as soon as possible, as this issue has been identified as one of the highest priorities of our members.

Sincerely,

Shamus Reid

Chairperson